North Carolina Ginseng Dealer Sentenced to Prison for Illegal Export of Ginseng Valued Over $100,000
WASHINGTON—Howard William Ledford of Hayesville, N.C., was sentenced today in federal court in the Western District of North Carolina to serve one year in prison for illegally selling and transporting wild American ginseng into Georgia, the Justice Department announced. Ledford was also fined $50,000 which will be placed in the Lacey Act Reward Account. Ledford pleaded guilty on Nov. 9, 2009, to two counts charging him with selling and transporting wild American ginseng in violation of the Lacey Act. Ledford admitted that in 2004 and 2005 he sold wild ginseng for approximately $109,000 without the required export certificates and transported, or caused the transport of wild ginseng into Georgia from North Carolina.